Willem Quotes

The arts are an even better barometer of what is happening in our world than the stock market or the debates in congress. ~ Hendrik Willem Van Loon

The original mistake, which was responsible for all this misery, was committed when our scientists began to create a new world of steel and iron and chemistry and electricity and forgot that the human mind is slower than the proverbial turtle, is lazier than the well-known sloth, and marches from one hundred to three hundred years behind the small group of courageous leaders. ~ Hendrik Willem Van Loon

I was born William. My father was William. I came from a big family, I hated being called Billy. Willem's a nickname; it's a Dutch name, very common in the Netherlands. ~ Willem Dafoe

It is little enough we know and the rest is darkness. ~ Hendrik Willem Van Loon

(G)aiety and kindness and tolerance and understanding were the gifts he bestowed upon the world. Wherever he went, he squandered these rare possessions in a most magnificent and bountiful manner, for he knew (what all wise people have realized since the beginning of time) that the only treasures which are truly ours are those we lay up in the hearts of our friends. ~ Hendrik Willem Van Loon

Maybe in that earlier phase I was painting the woman in me. Art isn't a wholly masculine occupation, you know. ~ Willem De Kooning

The problem with property is that it takes so much of your time. ~ Willem De Kooning

I want to work with people who are good at what they do, and people who are passionate. ~ Willem Dafoe

The question is which one of us is the frog and which is the toad,' Willem had said after they'd first seen the show, in JB's studio, and read the kindhearted books to each other late that night, laughing helplessly as they did.
He'd smiled; they had been lying in bed. 'Obviously, I'm the toad,' he said.
'No,' Willem said, 'I think you're the frog; your eyes are the same color as his skin.'
Willem sounded so serious that he grinned. 'That's your evidence?' he asked. 'And so what do you have in common with the toad?'
'I think I actually have a jacket like the one he has,' Willem said, and they began laughing again. ~ Hanya Yanagihara

The word 'abstract' comes from the light tower of the philosophers ... one of their spotlights that they have particularly focussed on 'Art' ... (abstraction was) not so much what you could paint but rather what you could not paint. You could not paint a house or a tree or a mountain. It was then that subject matter came into existence as something you ought not have. ~ Willem De Kooning

The bad things about theatre get balanced by the good things in film and vice versa. So to tell you the truth, I love it when I can go back and forth - it feeds different parts of you and exercises different muscles. ~ Willem Dafoe

Nothing happens without intention, Willem. Nothing. This theory of yours - life is rules by accidents - isn't that just one huge excuse for passivity? ~ Gayle Forman

The director's very important to me, particularly when the director has a recognizable style. ~ Willem Dafoe

Self-regulation stands in relation to regulation the way self-importance stands in relation to importance. ~ Willem Buiter

Socially, I like the idea of sitting in a theater with a bunch of people. ~ Willem Dafoe

Tabula rasa... time to hacer borrón y cuenta nueva, wipe the board clean," the singer chants.
Wipe the board clean? I feel like my board is too clean, perpetually wiped bare. What I want is the opposite: a messy scrawl, constellations of indelible things that can't ever be washed away. ~ Gayle Forman

One has to divide attention between having kids and a full workload. ~ Willem-Alexander, Prince Of Orange

Man is a predatory animal. He lives by eating other animals and he enriches himself by stealing that which belongs to his neighbor. Hence the history of the world is the history of war. ~ Hendrik Willem Van Loon

I'm not interested in 'abstracting' or taking things out or reducing painting to design, form, line, and color. I paint this way because I can keep putting more things in it - drama, anger, pain, love, a figure, a horse, my ideas about space. Through your eyes it again becomes an emotion or idea. ~ Willem De Kooning

Content is a glimpse. ~ Willem De Kooning

Watercolors is the first and the last thing an artist does. ~ Willem De Kooning

The house had a private walk down to a private spit of beach, and in the mornings the four of them would troop downhill and swim - even he did, in his pants and undershirt and an old oxford shirt, which no one bothered him about - and then lie on the sand baking, the wet clothes ungluing themselves from his body as they dried. Sometimes Harold would come and watch them, or swim as well. In the afternoons, Malcolm and JB would pedal off through the dunes on bicycles, and he and Willem would follow on foot, picking up bits of shaley shells and the sad carapaces of long-nibbled-away hermit crabs as they went, Willem slowing his pace to match his own. In the evenings, when the air was soft, JB and Malcolm sketched and he and Willem read. He felt doped, on sun and food and salt and contentment, and at night he fell asleep quickly and early, and in the mornings he woke before the others so he could stand on the back porch alone looking over the sea. ~ Hanya Yanagihara

If you get stuck and it feels a little stiff, then you do have to mess it up to find it. But other times it's really written and you just stick to your guns and do it as elegantly and as concentrated and as committed as you can. ~ Willem Dafoe

When I give over to somebody's vision rather than have an idea of what I need to do, it takes me to places I wouldn't have got to by myself. I'm always attracted to a strong director. ~ Willem Dafoe

Who am I? Who am I?"
"You're Jude St. Francis. You are my oldest, dearest friend. You're the son of Harold Stein and Julia Altman. You're the friend of Malcolm Irvine, of Jean-Baptiste Marion, of Richard Goldfarb, of Andy Contractor, of Lucien Voigt, of Citizen van Straaten, of Rhodes Arrowsmith, of Elijah Kozma, of Phaedra de los Santos, of the Henry Youngs. You're a New Yorker. You live in SoHo. You volunteer for an arts organization; you volunteer for a food kitchen. You're a swimmer. You're a baker. You're a cook. You're a reader. You have a beautiful voice, though you never sing anymore. You're an excellent pianist. You're an art collector. You write me lovely messages when I'm away. You're patient. You're generous. You're the best listener I know. You're the smartest person I know, in every way. You're the bravest person I know, in every way. You're a lawyer. You're the chair of the litigation department at Rosen Pritchard and Klein. You love your job; you work hard at it. You're a mathematician. You're a logician. You've tried to teach me, again and again. You were treated horribly. You came out on the other end. You were always you."

"And who are you?"
"I'm Willem Ragnarsson. And I will never let you go. ~ Hanya Yanagihara

In recent years he has gone from being embarrassed about crying at all to crying constantly to himself to crying around Willem to now, in the final falling away of his dignity, crying in front of anyone, at any time, over anything. ~ Hanya Yanagihara

I feel like it's important to be flexible, particularly when I'm coming in late in the game and I'm connective tissue in the story. I'm not at the very center. It's important for me to have a certain kind of flexibility and try to help people do what they need to do. ~ Willem Dafoe

Man's own form in space - his body - was a private prison; and that it was because of this imprisoning misery - because he was hungry and overworked and went to a horrid place called home late at night in the rain, and his bones ached and his head was heavy. ~ Willem De Kooning

Not even for a million dollars would I paint a tree. ~ Willem De Kooning

History is the mighty tower of experience, which time has built amidst the endless fields of bygone ages. - Forward ~ Hendrik Willem Van Loon

That night, before bed, he goes first to Willem's side of the closet, which he has still not emptied. Here are Willem's shirts on their hangers, and his sweaters on their shelves, and his shoes lined up beneath. He takes down the shirt he needs, a burgundy plaid woven through with threads of yellow, which Willem used to wear around the house in the springtime, and shrugs it on over his head. But instead of putting his arms through its sleeves, he ties the sleeves in front of him, which makes the shirt look like a straitjacket, but which he can pretend - if he concentrates - are Willem's arms in an embrace around him. He climbs into bed. This ritual embarrasses and shames him, but he only does it when he really needs it, and tonight he really needs it. ~ Hanya Yanagihara

The world is in dreadful need of men who will assume the new leadership - who will have the courage of their own visions and who will recognise clearly that we are only at the beginning of the voyage, and have to learn an entirely new system of seamanship. ~ Hendrik Willem Van Loon

If you pick up some paint with your brush and make somebody's nose with it, this is rather ridiculous when you think of it, theoretically or philosophically. It's really absurd to make an image, like a human image, with paint, today. ~ Willem De Kooning

It isn't a first kiss. It isn't even their first kiss. But it feels like one.
Not because it is fumbling or awkward. Not because she doesn't know where to put her hand, or he doesn't know where to put his nose. None of those. They slot together like puzzle pieces. As Allyson and Willem kiss for the first time in a year, both are thinking the same thing: This feels new.
Though perhaps thinking is not the right term, because with a kiss like this, thinking goes out the window and something more instinctual takes over: inner voices, gut instincts. 'Knowing it in your kishkes' is how Willem's saba would've described it.
In his kishkes, Willem is marveling at how Allyson found him, as Yael found Bram. He doesn't know how it happened, only that it did happen and that it means something. ~ Gayle Forman

I never act. I simply bring out the real animal that's in me. ~ Willem Dafoe

Great art ... is the result of the labours of thousands of faithful craftsmen who know that they are doomed to remain for ever outside the gates of the Paradise of Perfection, but who nevertheless will give the very best there is in them because the work they do means more to them than anything else in this world. ~ Hendrik Willem Van Loon

There's a real wisdom to not saying a thing. ~ Willem Dafoe

Im not someone whos ever said anything definitive about his work. In my life also I have very little fixed form. I can change overnight. ~ Willem De Kooning

Art should not have to be a certain way, ~ Willem De Kooning

An ignorant person is, by the very fact of his or her ignorance, a very dangerous person. ~ Hendrik Willem Van Loon

The past does not influence me; I influence it. ~ Willem De Kooning

It's no fun for an actor to keep repeating what you did before. It's always changing. I'm changing. The target keeps moving. That's the beauty of it. ~ Willem Dafoe

I feel sometimes an American artist must feel, like a baseball player or something - a member of a team writing American history.. ~ Willem De Kooning

When, about fifteen years ago, I walked into Arshile's studio for the first time, the atmosphere was so beautiful that I got a little dizzy and when I came to, I was bright enough to take the hint immediately. If the bookkeepers think it necessary to make sure of where things and people came from, well then, I came from 36 Union Square ... I am glad that it is about impossible to get away from his powerful influence. ~ Willem De Kooning

Perhaps, as with advancing age, the physical life becomes less important and yet, paradoxically, more precious, this green revolution against the temporary death of winter is a reminder that the earth, like our own lives, is a gift. ~ Willem Lange

It's really absurd to make ... a human image, with paint, today, when you think about it ... But then all of a sudden, it was even more absurd not to do it. ~ Willem De Kooning

Somewhere in the world there is an epigram for every dilemma. ~ Hendrik Willem Van Loon

I don't think people are interested in my personal life. I've never had a Hollywood life. I've always been a worker. ~ Willem Dafoe

I was watching 'Wild at Heart,' and I can honestly say I did nothing for that apart from show up! ~ Willem Dafoe

but he had seen lots of women behave this way around Willem. They all had. Their friend Lionel used to say that Willem must have been a fisherman in a past life, because he couldn't help but attract pussy. ~ Hanya Yanagihara

Content is a glimpse of something, an encounter like a flash. It's very tiny - very tiny. Content. ~ Willem De Kooning

With theatre, you have to be ready for anything. ~ Willem Dafoe

I love doing action and stuff; the problem is usually action movies are not that interesting. Also as I get older I feel like there's less opportunities for me. ~ Willem Dafoe

Corruption is something you face all the time. Avoid it. ~ Willem Dafoe

Love is not something you protect. It's something you risk. ~ Gayle Forman

For youth can no more live without some kind of hero than it can without its daily supply of fresh air and vitamins. ~ Hendrik Willem Van Loon

Backstage, Willem is thinking about accidents again. And things that seemingly don't make sense, except they do. Like right out there in the fifth row. All of them, together. That makes sense. ~ Gayle Forman

I don't really think of myself as gay, though," he began, and Kit rolled his eyes. "Don't be so naïve, Willem," he said. "Once you've touched a dick, you're gay. ~ Hanya Yanagihara

The mask can be a limitation, but you just deal with it. You do get superhuman strength and pumpkin bombs and all this other stuff to express yourself with.' ~ Willem Dafoe

I miss my father. I miss my grandfather. I miss my home. And I miss my mother. But the thing is, for almost three years, I managed not to miss any of them. And then I spent that one day with that one girl. One day ... It was like she gave me her whole self, and somehow as a result, I gave her more of myself than I even realized there was to give. But then she was gone. And only after I'd been filled up by her, by that day, did I understand how empty I really was. ~ Gayle Forman

Each of the actors is quite different, but they're all living in the same world. ~ Willem Dafoe

Regin slapped her knees. "Oh, my gods, look at him running like his life depended on catching us." She slid open the door. "Is this straight outta Platoon, or what? Willem!" she cried, holding out one hand. "Run, Willem!" Then she choked on her laughter. ~ Kresley Cole

I'm not attracted to naturalism, I'm not attracted to behavior, I'm attracted to dance. I'm attracted to gesture, I'm attracted to singing with your voice, as opposed to having a natural manner. I'm a theater actor first, so that probably influences a lot of my approach. And I think in many ways, naturalism has ruined movies. ~ Willem Dafoe

When I was a kid I was very interested in the idea of the will, finding out what you're capable of. I liked those kind of challenges. ~ Willem Dafoe

Any formal attack on ignorance is bound to fail because the masses are always ready to defend their most precious possession - their ignorance. ~ Hendrik Willem Van Loon

It's true in the beginning I started playing villains, and I think that's pretty clear, because if you don't conventionally look a certain way and you've got a certain kind of presence when you're young, then what's available to you is character roles, and the best character roles when you're young tend to be villains. ~ Willem Dafoe

I love Sam Neill. The thing that I always say about him, and I think it's true, is he's so dry. When he's serious, I think he's joking; when he's joking, I think he's serious. ~ Willem Dafoe

They all - Malcolm with his houses, Willem with his girlfriends, JB with his paints, he with his razors - sought comfort, something that was theirs alone, something to hold off the terrifying largeness, the impossibility, of the world, of the relentlessness of its minutes, its hours, its days. ~ Hanya Yanagihara

The truth is I like the crazy ones better than the well-behaved ones normally because they tend to be the passionate ones. They never come after you if you're holding up your end. The only thing that's bad about an abusive director is that they bully the people they can. ~ Willem Dafoe

All the time, as an actor, you want to be asking what's next and where things are going. If you're not asking those questions, you're not growing. ~ Willem Dafoe

The 'Women' had to do with the female painted through all ages, all those idols, and maybe I was stuck to a certain extent; I couldn't go on. It did one thing for me: it eliminated composition, arrangement, relationships, light - all this silly talk about line, colour and form - because that was the thing I wanted to get hold of. ~ Willem De Kooning

Is there any greater pleasure in this world than to sit around a table with people you really like, with whom you are tuned in on the same emotional and spiritual wave length, so that there never is any static, and with whom you agree so fully upon all matters of real significance that you can disagree just as heartily upon the nonessentials? We have by far too little of that sort of thing in America. We seem to feel that we should always be doing something. Just to sit and talk or, even worse, just to sit and do nothing at all, not even talk, is held to be a waste of time. How can one waste something that does not really exist, I never have been able to understand, but I do think that it would be of the greatest benefit to us as a nation if we could learn to spend at least half an hour after every meal sitting quietly around the dinner table. ~ Hendrik Willem Van Loon

Even abstract shapes must have a likeness ~ Willem De Kooning

What you do when you paint, you take a brush full of paint, get paint on the picture, and you have faith. ~ Willem De Kooning

As if any of us could bear to live in a world of unadulterated truth! ~ Hendrik Willem Van Loon

Yes, I am influenced by everbody. But every time I put my hands in my pockets I find someone else's fingers there. ~ Willem De Kooning

Act simple in a world of complexity, then people will understand and follow you ~ Willem Brethouwer

I try to do as many of my own stunts as possible. If you keep on taking yourself out of the role you play, you lose the thread of the character. ~ Willem Dafoe

He has just come home, so exhausted that he feels soluble, as if he is evaporating into the air, so insubstantial that he feels not made of blood and bone but of vapor and fog, when he sees Willem standing before him. He opens his mouth to speak to him, but then he blinks and Willem is gone, and he is teetering, his arms stretched before him. ~ Hanya Yanagihara

You boys are really turning into a bunch of Peter Pans," he said. "Willem, what are you? Thirty-six? I'm not sure what's going on with you lot. You're making money. You've achieved something. Don't you think you guys should stop clinging to one another and get serious about adulthood?" But how was one to be an adult? Was couplehood truly the only appropriate option? ~ Hanya Yanagihara

I'm not a protocol fetishist. It's more important to me that people feel at ease when I'm with them. ~ Willem-Alexander, Prince Of Orange

And that's when I understand that I have been stained. Whether I'm still in love with him, whether he was ever in love with me, and no matter who he's in love with now, Willem changed my life. He showed me how to get lost, and then I showed myself how to get found. ~ Gayle Forman

Willem de Kooning is generally credited for coming out of the painterly gates strong in the forties, revolutionizing art and abstraction and reaching incredible heights by the early fifties, and then tailing off. ~ Jerry Saltz

Turn off the sound in a movie, and if you can tell what's going on, the movie should work. ~ Willem Dafoe

You can be intuitive when you've got a more expansive role. You can get into the poetry of telling the story rather than just pushing buttons. ~ Willem Dafoe

I'll never be able to really see a film that I'm in. ~ Willem Dafoe

Time is running out fast. I think we have maybe a few months
it could be weeks, it could be days
before there is a material risk of a fundamentally unnecessary default by a country like Spain or Italy which would be a financial catastrophe dragging the European banking system and North America with it. So they have to act now. ~ Willem Buiter

Usually when you meet with a director, just meeting them after you've seen something you're interested in, they say, "Oh I'd love to work together," and sometimes you never hear from them again. ~ Willem Dafoe

Their Christian walk was such that it convinced even their most bitter foes of the sincerity and wholeheartedness of their faith and practice. The foes saw faith working powerfully through love, demonstrated in their straightforward business dealings, charitable deeds to the poor, visiting and comforting the sick and oppressed educating the ignorant, convincing the erring, punishing the wicked, reproving the idle, and encouraging the devout. And all this was done with diligence and sensitivity, as well as joy, peace, and happiness, such that it was obvious that the Lord was truly with them. ~ Willem Teellinck

I'd wish you luck, Willem, but I think you need to stop relying on that ~ Gayle Forman

In our lives we have known hell and heaven; the final balance, however, is that we helped pave the way to dynamic harmony in this earthly house. That, I believe, is the meaning of this live. ~ Reinout Willem Van Bemmelen

Celebrity is okay as long as you know it's not about you. ~ Willem Dafoe

I want to be alone," he told him.
"I understand," Willem said. "We'll be alone together. ~ Hanya Yanagihara

Willem, I suspect deep down you know exactly why you're here, exactly what you want, but you're unwilling to the wanting, let alone the having. Because both of those propositions are terrifying. ~ Gayle Forman

The real difficulty for smaller films, when they're made independently and it's time to go for a distributor, sometimes if it's a tough film and the people who financed it need their money back right away, it's much easier and lucrative to take a DVD deal. ~ Willem Dafoe

Pg 679 and he goes slowly to the wall behind the painting and sees its title;
WILLEM LISTENING TO JUDE TELL A STORY, GREENE STREET
... and he feels his breath abandon him ~ Hanya Yanagihara

Willem tsk-tsks. You Americans are so violent. I'm Dutch. The worst I will do is run her over with a bicycle. ~ Gayle Forman

Sometimes I think women are lucky because they can develop in ways men can't. The old-boy network may be oppressive to women, but it actually stunts men in terms of personal growth. ~ Willem Dafoe

Look at this, Willem, he admits he doesn't know the law and at the same time insists he's innocent. ~ Franz Kafka

High in the North in a land called Svithjod there is a mountain. It is a hundred miles long and a hundred miles high and once every thousand years a little bird comes to this mountain to sharpen its beak. When the mountain has thus been worn away a single day of eternity will have passed. ~ Hendrik Willem Van Loon